Athos, Ian Malcolm, and Tandro watched helplessly as Morgan slammed into the side of the plane. She screamed as she tumbled through the tree's branches, but she was still in control. She grabbed at first one branch, then another. Finally, she grabbed ahold of a thinner one. She hung there for a moment, out of breath, then swung her legs around the thicker branch below her. "Sorry, guys," she called up.

"Use the Force next time, Kenobi!" Athos called down.

Morgan smiled. The joke was meant in fun. "My apologies, Qui-Gon!" She felt her glasses. Broken. She tossed them down, hitting a raptor on the head.

"So now what?" Tandro asked. He knew Morgan was using the jokes to focus, that if and when they were safe, she'd collapse immediately.

"You're going to have to land in the tree," Morgan advised.

"No way."

"Well, what do you suggest?"

"I don't know, but I'll never be able to take off out of a tree."

"True." Her ideas were getting crazy, her mind wandering. She couldn't trust her thoughts. "Guys!" she called telepathically. "Any ideas would be appreciated right about now!"

"Tandro, fly lower!" Ian called. "I'm getting in there."

Athos looked shocked. "You're not about to try that! Morgan nearly got herself killed! What makes you think you can do it?"

"Athos, in this area, I have a slight advantage. I'm a mathematician. My specialty is Chaos Theory, but I know enough about linear systems to be able to tell when I should jump, as long as our friend keeps his speed fairly constant."

"Here goes nothing," Ian shrugged. He tied a knot in the rope and tossed it out the door.

Athos caught the rope in his left hand. It was thick, difficult to get a grip on, but he jumped out of the tree, swinging his legs, wrapping them around the rope.

He knew immediately he wouldn't be able to climb it.

So did Ian. He took the rope and pulled. Soon, he was able to pull Athos into the plane.

"Let's go get Morgan," Athos said immediately.

"Athos, I can't maneuver this plane through the branches down there," Tandro explained.

"What are you saying?"

"That it's a good thing the rope is long and I hope she can hold on really well, because it's gonna swing around like crazy."

"Other options?"

"If she could climb higher, it wouldn't be as rough."

"Morgan?"

"Yeah?"

"Tandro says it's too hard to fly down there. Do you want us to send the rope down where you are, or do you want to climb higher?"

"Just send the rope down. It'll take less time; we still have to find the others."

"You want it? You got it," Athos teased. Morgan managed a laugh.

The rope came down. Without her glasses, she couldn't see it until it was almost in front of her face. She took it without hesitation, letting go of the tree, trying not to look at the raptors below.

The others started pulling. She tried to climb, but found it was hard enough to just hang on as the rope swung back and forth. After what seemed like an eternity, she found herself on the plane.

"Where are the others?" Tandro asked as Ian closed the door.

Morgan paused to contact them. "They stopped at a clearing a little ways north of where we were."

"Which is . . ."

"A little bit west of here."

"Okay. Tell them to fire an arrow, if they have any left. I need some kind of signal."

Almost immediately, an arrow came shooting out of the trees. Tandro flew over to where it came from. "That's one small clearing, but it should be enough. Ian, I could sure use a copilot. Athos, Morgan, hold onto something. I'm taking us down."

Morgan sat back and tried to relax. But Tandro wasn't exactly helping.

"What does this thing do?"

"I don't know," Ian replied helplessly.

"What about this?"

"I think that's something with the parachutes; leave it alone."

"Okay, this one."

"Yeah, gently. Gently!" The plane sped towards the ground. Tandro reversed it, trying not to panic, even though he had no idea what he was doing. Together, he and Ian fumbled with the controls, until at last the plane landed roughly, but in one piece, on the ground.

Tandro scrambled out of the plane. "How is everyone?"

"Could be better," Alan answered. "But we're alive. Now let's get out of here."

"We have a problem," Tandro admitted.

"Shoot."

"This plane was built for about seven people. Including myself, there are fourteen of us. Double the number, and double the weight. I don't know if it'll hold."

"What are you saying? Some of us have to stay behind?"

"Not necessarily. But if we all go, it's more dangerous."

Eric looked around. In the distance, a Tyrannosaur roared. The sun was setting. He shook his head. "Hang the danger. I'm not leaving anyone here." Everyone else nodded their agreement.

"You got it." They piled into the plane. Richard plopped into the pilot's chair, adjusting himself to the controls. Ian headed back by Morgan and Athos while Tandro sat down next to Richard.

"Um . . . how, exactly, did you plan to take off?" Richard asked.

Tandro blinked. "Uhhhh . . ."

"Wonderful! You fly all the way down here to save us and now we can't go?"

"Shut up!" Eric yelled back. "Let's see you come up with a better plan!"

"That's why he was supposed to wait by the coast!"

"By the time we'd have gotten there, he'd have been out of fuel. Not to mention Athos, Morgan, and Ian would probably still be up in that tree!"

"Both of you, calm down," Peter called, struggling to his feet. He turned to Richard. "Could a strong wind pick us up?"

"Maybe, but not much short of a tornado."

Peter nodded, and closed his eyes. The wind started to blow outside the plane. Rona slammed the door shut. The wind got louder, and, slowly, Richard could feel the plane being lifted up. He pulled a few levers, threw a few switches, and soon they were flying. The wind died down. Peter took a seat.

Q rose. "We wished to congratulate you. You and the others have done well on the test we set for you." He came down and offered Morgan his hand. "Well done, Kenobi."

Morgan shook his hand firmly. "Thank you, Q. But may I ask what, exactly, the purpose of the test was?"

"You may, indeed. We were testing the strength of your love."

Morgan burst out laughing. "Oh, boy! Is that what it was? Couldn't you have done that without involving the others? I mean Billy and Richard and Alan and Ian and Kelly. What did they have to do with this?"

"I know about the love you and the Woodland Wanderers share," Q grinned, not at all annoyed by Morgan's good-natured cheerfulness. "I wanted to know if you would share that with a stranger."

"Ian."

"Exactly. So I sent Kelly with Athos. The others were merely a coincidence; they happened to be with Dr. Malcolm when the gleems, not to mention you, found him."

Morgan nodded. "I understand."

Q smiled. "There are some of you humans who are truly exceptional."

"Because we don't mind it when you show up and play around with our lives?" Morgan joked.

Q laughed. "It was good to see you again, Morgan."

Morgan nodded. "Likewise."

"See you around."

"Namarie, mellon nin." She disappeared.

Avanwe sighed. "I don't know why she treats you like that. There were a million rude things she could've said, and mostly everyone else in the universe would've said in her place. I should know; I'm one of them."

"Hey, they're all safe, nobody died, and they proved your point, or Fasir's." He smiled. "You should be very proud of them, Avanwe. Their gift is rare."

"Oh, never mind that old thing. Piece of junk. I'm surprised Tandro even got it to fly. It was a wreck."

Tandro grinned. "My speciality."

"Everyone all right?"

"More or less," Ian nodded. "Thank you again, Pastor."

"So the world is safe?"

Morgan sighed. "Please don't make me explain that again."

Two weeks later, Morgan was sitting in math class, bored, when a guest speaker walked in.

The rest of the class groaned silently. Guest speakers were always boring. Morgan just grinned as her friend, dressed, as usual, all in black, headed up to the blackboard, winked at her, and started the lesson.

Alison -- :) Well, now I don't have to "keep it up" anymore because it's done!

xWhit3staRx -- Yeah, no more cliffies on this story because it's done!

a writer of fics -- :) Now you don't have to bug me about updating anymore because it's done!

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